Magadheera

"This is our movie-our Telugu movie. This is our pride. This is the creation happened with the cognizance of our Telugu director"…would be the feel of every Telugu film lover while watching this film.

Words wouldn't suffice to explain the experience of technical extravaganza depicted in this film. It's just spellbinding. The range of Telugu film has gone to a higher plane with this film. The maker Rajamouli and producer Aravind should be appreciated unconditionally. And kudos would go to the technical team that has kept its brilliance to make this movie a wonder.

Keeping the first 44 minutes away the rest of the movie arrests the audiences completely. The first 44 minutes would literally keep the pulse of audiences down and confused.

The real tempo starts as soon as the completion of the song 'Naakosam Nuvvu' The momentum develops with the first horse riding scene of Ram Charan chasing a bus. The interval scene hooks the audiences with lot of enthusiasm for sure. And the audiences can never turn their head and blink eye lid from then till climax.

And the audiences come out from theater with the experience of a roller-coaster ride, with the sound reverberating in hearts, with a heavy hangover of watching a new facet of Telugu cinema.

The film proves to a historical one with respect to patronage of audiences of all classes.

While I was on a long local bus ride in Cambodia, the driver decided to play this movie for the passengers. In the beginning I was totally uninterested and not really paying attention, since I misjudged this as something overly sentimental and cheap. But gradually I got pulled into the epic and beautiful story.

This movie just has it all: a sense of history, a sense of wonder, spiritualism, action, romance, humor, music and dance. There is room for many different moods, which follow each other in a very natural way. Almost unknown in the self-centered West, I think this movie deserves way more praise.

Sometimes you feel you should be the first one to review a movie so to share and enjoy the applause that it gets later on. Magadheera is just of that kind. I was amazed and thrilled by the way the movie starts over that deep valley. Some say the movie lets you down in the next half an hour but I suspect that was a ploy by the director. Reason simple, if it was the other way, it would have ended up being an overdose. A mediocre 30-40 minutes with an undercurrent indication to the flash back opened up doors to what is undoubtedly the best achievement in Telugu cinema in movies of this Genre.

Awesome is what I had in my mind leaving to the interval break. Rarely does one feel the break time in Indian cinema is not needed and this happens to be one such occasion. Second half started the roller-coaster ride. You see all the effort that the technicians had put in the movie. While songs are not at their best while listening, they were much better on picture. Dheera Dhreera song should be one of the best pictured songs in Telugu cinema. Charan has a long way to go but there are a few areas where he needs to work out a lot. But well.. for someone in his very second movie, he seems to had put extraordinary effort for this outcome. A pat on back for Rajamouli too.

Some scenes of the movie will haunt you for a long time. The starting scene and the scene where the horse (Badshah) comes back to rescue Charan. The horse chase sequences leading to scene are also superbly pictured. In spite of some obvious logical errors, I felt utterly satisfied for a Telugu movie after a long time. Hard work pays off.

PS: Rarely (sad but true! ) we'll get chance to take our non-Telugu colleagues to a Telugu movie and feel proud. Make the most of it with Magadheera. Let all know that our industry can make the best of the best.

I watched this movie at Cinemax...first day first Show....Really this picture deserves a 9/10 and with no doubt...Each and every aspect of the movie is good and director SS Rajmouli has taken good care of the technical aspect which was outstanding in Telugu Cinema after Arundhati.......and i fell like this movie should be in Hindi, English also and........ 9 REASONS WHY THIS MOVIE SHOULD BE WATCHED: 1. Songs are Excellent 2. Bike Chasings and Stunts. 3. Kajal Agarwal- Right choice for the role and did justice to the role. 4. Dialogue delivery by Charan - reminds in some parts like Chiru. 5. Excellent performance by Srihari. 6. Special Mention for the Scene where Charan kills 100 Soilders. 7. Spell blinding technical aspects..where good care is taken for each and every take. 8. Cameo role by Chiru 9. Horse Racing, Sword fighting and good action Sequences.

Hence, 9/10.

"Magadheera" is an indigenous product from our own very soil with significant portion of the plot inspired by bedtime tales of taatayya/ naanamma/ ammama and presented on screen at a lavish scale bench-marked by likes of "Gladiator"/ "300". Without an iota of doubt, "Magadheera" is a praise- worthy effort for the top-class CGI's that transports the audience straight into the period era. Next to CGI I am afraid everything comes to a grinding halt. The entire team seems to have been obsessed with over-the-top production values that nobody bothered to tap even a single shoulder and ask "Where is the plot heading dude?". It would be an understatement to mention the writing has holes as the proceedings give an impression that the impromptu scribbling act was attempted on the set a few minutes before the shot was canned. The editor I am sure made a silent prayer with every stitch that logic remains unquestioned by the audience. Songs by Keeravani don't quite rise upto the expectations. The action sequences are well executed though.

Ѻ Kajal Agarwal:: The new poster-girl on the block, thanks to the good looks. It was evident that she attempts to cover up her acting skills with her coy expressions. Undoubtedly Ms. Kajal is good as "Indira" but sadly a misfit to pull-off the regal character of "Yuvarani Mitravinda Devi". On that note, perhaps there was a good opportunity for heroine #2 to stage an entry (on the lines of every papa Chiranjeevi's movie).

Ѻ Rao Ramesh:: Brings in the stage-like performance coupled with his makeup, gait and hissing dialogue delivery to breathe life into the character of "Aghora".

Ѻ Mumait Khan:: Attempts to displace "Disco Shanti" in the garb of "Bangaru Kodi Petta" remix. On behalf of the fans of the original version, do I need to spell the word "foul"?

Ѻ Suneel & Brahmanandam were merely a force-fit into the storyline. The appalling act in the name of comedy was easily dispensable.

Ѻ Kim Sharma:: Her item song was clearly a force-fit.

Ѻ Dev Gill:: Has got what is takes to breathe a menacingly evil re- incarnate into life. Stands out clearly and now that Sonu Sood has found glory in his own hamlet, perhaps Dev Gill should consider filling in his shoes.

Ѻ Sarathbabu:: Though a short role but effortlessly essayed.

Ѻ Srihari:: Again the writing is at lowest ebb with regards to fleshing out the character of "Sher Khan/ Solomon". Dropping straight into the climax out-of-the-blue is cinematic liberties at its best.

Ѻ Chiranjeevi:: Reprises his persona of mega-star with his signature style, signature dialogues and signature mannerism in a cameo which can be best described as "There you go son, my fan-base is now all yours. Entice them!". Encapsulating father-son in the same screen space is nothing more than a Kodak moment.

And finally about....

Ѻ Ram Charan Teja:: Every heir to a legacy wishes for a wand which could make the comparison go away and magically exceeds expectations. If such did exist I am sure Chiranjeevi Junior would have been the highest bidder. Under the garb of technical brilliance everything gets pushed under the carpet, which includes his performance. Chiru's fans might be benevolent this time and a few times more, but in order to stay in business he needs to build his own army of loyal soldiers. Ram Charan Teja clearly has miles to go before papa can sleep.